New faces take over DHS baseball and softball

Thursday

Feb 14, 2013 at 6:56 PM

There are some new faces in big roles at Dunnellon High School this spring.

By Byron SaucerStaff writer

There are some new faces in big roles at Dunnellon High School this spring.The Tigers have hired new head coaches for both the baseball and softball programs as veteran skipper Seth Gaspin takes over for Shane Baly, and Terry Weber inherits the softball team from Clay Thompson. Both Baly and Thompson held their posts for just one season.Gaspin, 43, signed on with the Tigers last summer after leading Jenkins High in Savannah, Ga. to the playoffs seven times and collecting three region titles in nine years.The Savannah State graduate began his 17-year head coaching career at Thomas Heyward Academy, a private school in South Carolina, before a seven-year stint at his high school alma mater, Memorial Day School, in Savannah. Gaspin led the Matadors to a state title in 2001 before moving on to Jenkins, a larger public school, in 2003. He turned that program, which won one game the year before he arrived, into a consistent state contender.But Gaspin had always wanted the chance to coach in Florida. So when Dunnellon came calling, he was happy to listen.“It’s the caliber of baseball played down here,” Gaspin explained. “Not knocking Georgia, but Florida is a chance to coach all year-round with the travel ball, which is awesome down here.“Dunnellon itself is a small-town atmosphere. I showed up to the field the first day and there were already 10 guys out there on their own swinging and throwing. So right then you know these guys are self-motivated to be here.”One diamond over, Weber, who also took over Dunnellon’s volleyball program in the fall, slides in to take the reins of a storied softball program that claimed the county’s only two state titles in 2009 and 2010 under coach Kevin Fagan. The Tigers managed a regional semifinal berth last season under Thompson, and now Weber is hoping to build on that with a roster that boasts seven seniors along with her daughter, junior catcher Jody Weber, who belted four homers and drove in 38 runs last season.“Kevin Fagan started a great program here and I just wanted to continue the conditioning and the pregame and all the things that he set in place,” said Weber, a 1986 DHS graduate who went on to play college softball at CFCC. “Many of the girls played for him as freshmen, and I just told them that I expect the same things: work hard, do your best, and represent the school on and off the field. Hopefully that will get us to higher places.”Gaspin heads into tonight’s game against Forest just two wins shy of 300 after compiling an impressive 297-148 career record (.667 winning percentage). He, like Weber, inherits a veteran team with 11 seniors on the roster, which makes Gaspin believe he has the ingredients to win right away. “Our expectation coming in this year is really to play every inning of every game as hard as we can go,” he said. “They swing as much as anybody and they put in the time and effort, so the results will be there. That’s been the case with every program I’ve been involved with.“We want to work as hard as we can and go as far as we can go for those seniors. And we’ve got a nice group of sophomores that are willing to jump in and build with us.”In addition to being a consistent winner, Gaspin has also been very successful moving players to the college level, guiding eight kids to NCAA Division I scholarships during his nine seasons at Jenkins. He sees the same type of potential at Dunnellon, which played in the 2010 state semifinals and the 2011 region final under Tommy Boss before last season’s 4-20 hiccup a year after Boss left for St. Johns River State College. “There’s been a great tradition of baseball here,” Gaspin said. “We want to lay a foundation of being contenders every single year for the state playoffs and the state championship. I know those are big words, but I’ve used them everywhere I’ve been, and I’ve been lucky enough to coach in three state championships in my career.“Great work ethic and discipline — that will be our foundation.”Weber, who coached most of her current roster at the little league level, agreed to take over the varsity program after the administration approached her. The Dunnellon alumnus is now hoping to return the Tigers to the top of the county softball pecking order in her first season as a varsity softball coach.“I didn’t want to see the whole program fall apart,” Weber said. “It’s kind of a family atmosphere (at Dunnellon). That’s the way I feel.”She’ll have to do it without a feeder program in place after the Tigers were unable to field a junior varsity team for the 2013 season. Weber said year-round travel ball has drastically cut into the robust numbers that county schools had enjoyed over the last decade. And she says Dunnellon isn’t the only program to take a hit at the lower levels as several schools are experiencing the same fallout.“There are so many girls out there playing travel ball, and it’s both a blessing and a curse,” Weber said. “Back when Dunnellon was winning championships you had to cut girls because there were so many. This year it was iffy if we were even going to field a team.”